About Covid-19
Outpatient treatment of COVID-19 and incidence of post-COVID-19 condition over 10 months (COVID-OUT): a multicentre, randomised, quadruple-blind, parallel-group, phase 3 trial “Outpatient treatment with metformin reduced long COVID incidence by about 41%, with an absolute reduction of 4·1%, compared with placebo. Metformin has clinical benefits when used as outpatient treatment for COVID-19 and is globally available, low-cost, and safe.”
Comment: I did not find the words “side effect” or “complication” in a word search of the article.
The Great Grift: How billions in COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted Due to inadequate oversite: “An Associated Press analysis found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has so far disbursed in COVID relief aid.
That number is certain to grow as investigators dig deeper into thousands of potential schemes.”
Great piece of investigative reporting.
About health insurance/insurers
Primary Care Spending in the US Population “Primary care spending in 2019 totaled $439 per person. Spending was highest for the Medicare population ($736) and lowest for the uninsured population ($78); spending was $461 for those with group private insurance.
The percentage of medical spending on primary care was 7.0% for the population and was lower for those 65 years or older (5.1%), those in worse health (5.6%), and those with Medicare (5.3%). Nearly 41% of the population had 0 primary care spending. This percentage was higher for Hispanic (52.7%), non-Hispanic Black (49.0%), and non-Hispanic other (44.3%) individuals and 79.9% for uninsured individuals...
Primary care spending varied significantly by insurance type and area.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Intermountain Health has 'AA+' ratings affirmed, highest in nonprofit healthcare Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health had an "AA+" rating on several bonds affirmed as the 33-hospital system continues to enjoy a strong financial profile and relatively low debt, S&P Global said June 8.
Such ratings are the highest in the U.S. nonprofit healthcare sector, the report said. Intermountain Health also had an "AA" rating assigned on 2019 bonds, and the outlook for all such debt is stable.”
About pharma
Governments get nearly $19 billion more in opioid lawsuit settlements “States and local governments will receive an additional $18.75 billion from pharmacy chains and drug manufacturers to settle lawsuits over their roles in flooding the country with painkillers — money meant to help communities still grappling with an unparalleled addiction and overdose crisis, attorneys announced Friday.
The settlements are to be paid by drug manufacturers Allergan and Teva, plus CVS and Walgreens. The settlements also include Walmart, which is expected to finalize its deal shortly.
The agreements emerge more than a year after pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, along with drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, agreed to pay about $26 billion to settle. In total, more than $50 billion has been allocated to settle waves of lawsuits meant to hold accountable companies that failed to stop the flow and abuse of prescription pills in the 2000s and 2010s.”
US Chamber of Commerce sues over government's drug pricing power “In a complaint filed in federal court in Dayton, Ohio, the chamber said the pricing program violated drugmakers' due process rights under the U.S. Constitution by giving the government ‘unfettered discretion’ to dictate maximum prices.
It also said the program would impose exorbitant penalties on drugmakers that don't accept those prices, and amounted to an ultimatum: agree to whatever price the government names, or we'll smash up your business.’”
Comment: This action reveals the dilemma of this organization. It doesn’t want government interfering with business; however, this governmental program would lower healthcare costs that these same firms find so expensive.
In a related article: U.S. government sets penalties on 43 drugs over price hikes “The Biden administration on Friday announced it would impose inflation penalties on 43 drugs for the third quarter of 2023, having fined 27 earlier this year, in a move it said would lower costs for older Americans by as much as $449 per dose.
Drugmakers hiked the price of these 43 drugs by more than the rate of inflation and are required to pay the difference of those medicines to Medicare, the federal health program for Americans over age 65.”
Use of Non-Psychiatric Medications With Potential Depressive Symptom Side Effects and Level of Depressive Symptoms in Major Depressive Disorder [MDD] “Individuals treated for MDD frequently use non-psychiatric medications for comorbid medical conditions that are associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms. In evaluating the response to antidepressant medication treatment, side effects of concomitantly used medications should be considered.”
Walgreens sells remaining stake in Option Care Health for $330M in latest divestiture move “The drugstore chain announced Thursday it sold 10.8 million shares of Option Care Health and plans to use the proceeds primarily for debt paydown, continued support of the company's strategic priorities and to help fund its healthcare-focused business initiatives, according to a press release.”
Novartis inks $3.2B Chinook buyout to lift kidney disease plan “While working to generate phase 3 data on its own IgA nephropathy candidate, the Swiss drugmaker has seized the chance to buy Chinook Therapeutics for a pair of late-stage programs targeting the rare, progressive chronic kidney disease.
Chinook has accepted a buyout bid worth $3.2 billion upfront, plus $300 million payable if it hits certain regulatory milestones.”
About healthcare personnel
HHS Announces New $15 Million Loan Repayment Program to Strengthen the Pediatric Health Care Workforce The “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), launched the new Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program, a $15 million investment to recruit and retain clinicians who provide health care to children and adolescents.
In exchange for three years of service working in a health professional shortage area, medically underserved area, or providing care to a medically underserved population, the Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program provides up to $100,000 to eligible clinicians providing pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, or child and adolescent behavioral health care, including substance use prevention and treatment services.”
Early 2023 healthcare wage inflation eases “Early 2023 data is showing that healthcare labor costs are subsiding compared to 2021 and 2022, according to a new report from credit ratings agency Fitch.
Despite the good news for hospitals, the 2023 average hourly earnings growth of 4.7 percent still outpaces the 2.4 percent average increase in hourly pay for healthcare workers from 2010 to 2019.
Fitch attributed the jump in earnings to the conversion of contract labor to full-time workers, according to the June 12 report.”